1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an eyelet assembly including an eyelet body and a seat plate formed by plastic material which are adapted to be assembled together on a piece of fabric or the like.
2. Prior Art
Heretofore, various types of plastic eyelet assemblies in which the eyelet body and the seat plate are assembled together by utilizing the inherent resilience of plastic material have been known. For instance, a typical example of such a prior art plastic eyelet assembly is disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Application Laid-Open No. 83904/79. As shown in FIG. 8, the eyelet assembly of this prior art includes the plastic seat plate A and plastic eyelet body B which is adapted to be fit in the seat plate A. The external peripheral surface of the cylindrical portion of the eyelet body B is provided with a plurality of annular horizontal projections C having a saw-tooth cross section in vertically spaced relationship. These projections are adapted to engage the engaging portion D formed at the inner edge of the annular seat plate A with fabric pinched between the flange of the eyelet body B and the seat plate A. The position at which the projections C engage with the engaging portion D may be changed depending on variations in the thickness of the fabric.
In this prior art eyelet assembly referred to hereinabove, however, since the projections on the external peripheral surface of the cylindrical portion of the eyelet body are formed with a fully annular shape vertically spaced from each other, when the pitch of the projections is made fine, the thickness of the projections and also the engaging portion of the seat plate must accordingly be made thin. This reduces the strength of the projections and the engaging portion and leads to easy breakage of the same. In particular, when an eyelet assembly is adapted to be used for thin fabric, it is not possible to design the eyelet assembly in such a way that the engaging position between the projections and the engaging portion can be changed depending on variations in the thickness of the fabric, because the thickness of the projections and the engaging portion must be made extraordinarily thin. Thus, the prior art eyelet assembly cannot fully exert its original performance in a thin fabric.